The Seattle Community Council Federation welcomes guests and representatives from community-based organizations in the Seattle area. We want to be aware of issues affecting your neighborhood, and we hope that you will join us with your input at our monthly meetings at Central Area Senior Center, 500 30th Avenue South.
Jeannie Hale, Chair; Rick Barrett, Vice-Chair

Friday, January 25, 2008

Over the holidays, the Department of Planning and Development (DPD) quietly issued a Declaration of Non Significance (DNS) on what it bills to the public and Council as a "Multi-Family Update."

Adrienne Quinn, the City's Housing Director, perhaps unwittingly, misrepresented the code changes to City Council when she described them as "some proposed changes to the multi-family code, really more clean-up". (This occurs at 4:13:12 of the meeting of the Urban Development and Planning Committee 12/12/07). See: http://www.seattlechannel.org/videos/video.asp?ID=2140731

Actually this "cleanup" is a total rewrite of all of the development standards for all the multi-family zones, a complete change in the comprehensive plan.

Most important, it destroys the consensus reached after a long process in 1988 and 1989, when the city rewrote the code to deal with ugly, excessively dense conditions created by the city's 1980's attempt at an "experimental code." The 1989 process took over a year and had an enormous amount of citizen input. Now the planning staff proposes to bring back the very problems that caused the 1989 rewrite—and even worse—to break all the promises made to communities who agreed to take Urban Villages. Some of the worst changes will:

• Purge the rezoning criteria of definitive aspects that ordinary people can understand.

• Upzone the most common apartment zones (L2 and L3) and bring back huge ugly, ugly multifamily buildings where both the existing code and Department of Planning and Development's own proposal says they do not belong—outside villages.

•Sell zoning—additional height and bulk within villages (in addition to already increased standards) creating even huger buildings in villages that didn't get listed against L3 upzones.

• Dispense with all limitations to assure compatibility with existing development (overweighting DPD Objective 2--"foster creative design through development flexibility." The rest of this list enumerates how this single-minded focus loses all sight of the comprehensive plan's urban village strategy.

• Repeal, in some places, and in other places enlarge building width and depth limits—critical limits that did away with appeals by discouraging the assembling of lots outside villages.

• Replace lot coverage limits in all zones, and density limits in L3 with the complex FAR (floor area ratio) used in commercial zones, so complex that neighborhoods lose the predictable densities and lot coverages promised in 1989.

• Replace front, rear, and side setbacks with a flat seven feet (7') all around.

• Leave townhouse disasters unaddressed, if not worsened by the setback relaxations.

• Repeal "open space" and "ground related”, even remove these terms from the glossary.

• Replace nature's way of accepting storm runoff–-open space—with the "Green Area Factor," a complicated numbers game just adopted for business districts that has not been demonstrated to have any real benefits.

• Replace predictable development standards with vague design standards, such as ‘choice of articulation,' with the DPD director (which usually means plan reviewer) as the sole judge and no community participation or appeal allowed.

The Comprehensive Plan still elaborately documents the Urban Village strategy that neighborhood planners honored and expect to be honored—attractive density increases in villages, and in-fill projects that fits in outside villages. This "cleanup" cleans out the urban village strategy and replaces it with high density again scattered randomly around the city. It throws out neighborhood plans and upzones with a code change.

Noneof the members of the present Land Use Committee of the City Council were there in 1989.The Department of Planning was there, and has the audacity to think we have all forgotten.

“He who forgets history is doomed to repeat it”

We do not need another round of experimental zoning.

This is the opposite of Simple.

This is the opposite of Cheaper, Faster Permitting.

There is no emergency yet, but there surely will be if we let this "cleanup" pass.

What changes can parks supporters expect with a new Parks Superintendent and a new chair of the City Council’s Parks Committee? Is Seattle heading down the road of commercializing its parks? What direction will be provided in the Parks Strategic Business Plan? With the Pro-Parks Levy expiring in 2008, will there be any funding sources for parks and open space projects? Will the City ever live up to its legal obligation to enforce Initiative 42, which prohibits conversion of park property to non-park uses unless rigorous requirements are met?

Learn about Councilmember Rasmussen’s vision for Seattle parks and recreation and the work of his council committee. Share your views on parks issues confronting your community and the city.

The January meeting will also include a round robin and is your opportunity to brief our citywide membership on projects and issues that your community council or organization is working on—and matters that the Federation should involve itself.If you have informational materials you would like distributed at the meeting, please email electronic copies or links to Jeannie Hale at jeannieh@serv.net and copies will be provided at the meeting.

NOAA is a federal facility on high security alert, so attendees must enter by the security gate and may need to present photo ID. If you haven't attended a recent Federation meeting, please send your name, contact information, and address to rickbarrett@gmail.com to be added to the entry list. No e-mail? Call 206-365-1267. The building is ADA compliant, with ample parking in front.

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SEATTLE COMMUNITY COUNCIL FEDERATION
Monthly Meeting –Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2013, 7 p.m.
Central Area Senior Center, 500 30th Avenue South 98144
[This beautiful facility with free parking and a grand view of Lake Washington is just three blocks east of Martin Luther King, Jr. Way S. and one block south of S. Jackson Street]
AGENDA
Gun Violence: what should government and citizens do to reduce it?
featuring Beth Flynn, Executive Director of Washington CeaseFire
Recent mass killings are only a fraction of gun deaths. In Washington state alone, nearly 6,000 people have been killed by guns in the past decade--more than died in traffic accidents. On Jan. 16, President Obama unveiled legislative proposals to reduce gun violence, and took many administrative actions toward that end.
Washington CeaseFire (http://washingtonceasefire.org) is proposing measures to reduce gun violence at the state and local level. Other states have closed the gun-show loophole, banned the sale of military-style assault weapons, limited handgun sales to one per month, carefully regulated concealed weapon permits, and banned open carrying of guns. None of those policies apply in Washington state, which ranks among the most loosely regulated states in terms of guns, and has state laws that prevent local governments from addressing gun violence.
Join us at the Jan. 22 meeting in welcoming Beth Flynn, Executive Director of Washington CeaseFire, as we discuss what government and citizens can do to reduce gun violence. Also included is our monthly Round Robin with the opportunity to share news about your neighborhood’s issues and projects. If you have informational materials to distribute at the meeting, please bring them or e-mail electronic copies or links to jeannieh@serv.net.
7:00 Introductions/Minutes /Treasurer’s Report / President’s Report
7:10 Gun violence: What should government and citizens do to reduce it?
8:15 Round Robin of issues and projects in your neighborhood
8:45 Other business
9:00 Adjourn
SCCF (http://seattlefederation.blogspot.com/) is one of the nation’s oldest and most active coalitions of community associations. It was founded in 1946 to facilitate resettlement of Seattle’s Japanese-American residents who had returned from wartime internment to reclaim their homes and businesses; and to help Black veterans coming back from the war. Over the decades, SCCF has grown to cover the entire City. Its monthly meetings are open to the public, and suggestions for agenda items are always welcome. Yearly dues for member groups are $50, and new groups are always welcome. Individual donations are also welcome, and go very far, as SCCF is all-volunteer. Please mail your check to SCCF, 2370 Yale Avenue East, Seattle, WA 98102-3310. For questions, contact treasurer Chris Leman at 206-322-5463 or cleman@oo.net.

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The non-profit Seattle Community Council Federation, perhaps the nations’ most venerable umbrella organization is dedicated to neighborhood issues. Founded in 1946 as the Jackson Street Community Council to help resettle Seattlelites of Japanese origin returning from internment camps, and to assist black veterans coming back from the war. Both groups often returned to Seattle to find their homes and businesses appropriated, local government indifferent or hostile. Over the decades the Federation has grown to cover the entire city. To learn more about how the Federation might help your neighborhood go to SeattleFederation.Blogspot.com.

The non-profit Seattle Community Council Federation, perhaps the nations’ most venerable umbrella organization is dedicated to neighborhood issues. Founded in 1946 as the Jackson Street Community Council to help resettle Seattlelites of Japanese origin returning from internment camps, and to assist black veterans coming back from the war. Both groups often returned to Seattle to find their homes and businesses appropriated, local government indifferent or hostile. Over the decades the Federation has grown to cover the entire city. To learn more about how the Federation might help your neighborhood go to SeattleFederation.Blogspot.com.

About Me

Founded in 1948, the Seattle Community Council Federation is one of the nation's oldest and most active coalitions of neighborhood groups.Yearly dues for member groups are $50.SCCF welcomes new member groups, and encourages renewal by groups whose membership in SCCF may have lapsed.Individual donations are also welcome and tax deductible, and go very far, as SCCF is an all-volunteer 501(c)(3) organization.Please mail your check to SCCF, 2370 Yale Avenue East, Seattle, WA98102-3310.For questions, contact treasurer Chris Leman, (206) 322-5463, cleman@oo.net.

Seattle Community Council Federation,3425 West Laurelhurst Drive NESeattle WA 98105